Numerical methods for computing the ground state of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates in a uniform magnetic field

Abstract

We propose efficient and accurate numerical methods for computing the ground-state solution of spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates subjected to a uniform magnetic field. The key idea in designing the numerical method is based on the normalized gradient flow with the introduction of a third normalization condition, together with two physical constraints on the conservation of total mass and conservation of total magnetization. Different treatments of the Zeeman energy terms are found to yield different numerical accuracies and stabilities. Numerical comparison between different numerical schemes is made, and the best scheme is identified. The numerical scheme is then applied to compute the condensate ground state in a harmonic plus optical lattice potential, and the effect of the periodic potential, in particular to the relative population of each hyperfine component, is investigated through comparison to the condensate ground state in a pure harmonic trap.